


For the Ball

by ColorfulTynCan



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Gen, Non-Linear Narrative
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-09
Updated: 2016-04-12
Packaged: 2018-05-19 07:43:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5959243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ColorfulTynCan/pseuds/ColorfulTynCan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Basketball after the Winter Cup and the GoM's first year can't possibly be as dramatic, right? Well, maybe not for them. Inspired by Seirin's win, there's a new basketball team this year.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning?

There were not an abundance of things that would make Aomine double-take. Some would argue that the occurrences that made him single-take were not overwhelming either. After the glance that served as a greeting to his long-time friend, Aomine had to look up once more to take in the expression on Momoi's face. It wasn't a particularly dangerous expression, and Aomine thanked whatever luck that he may have mooched off of Midorima that it wasn't. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her eyes were slightly narrowed, her mouth drawn in a line that wasn't quite a frown.

While not incredibly curious, Aomine felt quietly obligated to take the plunge and find out what was occupying Momoi's mind. She would tell him eventually anyway and he might as well soften whatever annoyance may come by being "courteous" and asking.

"What?"

Her eyes focused on him and the line of her mouth scrunched to one side. "I got the roster of the schools that will be competing this year."

Aomine looked down to the paper she clutched, raising an eyebrow. "Did someone drop out or something? Think they'd be inspired after the show Tetsu and Seirin put on last year."

Fixing him with a bemused, cool look, Momoi turned the paper around and brandished it in his face. "Exactly. There's a new team this year--one I've never heard of."

She grumbled as he skimmed over the list, eyes landing on the marked school. "I don't even think they _had_ a basketball club before this year."

Aomine peered over the sheet, his eyes re-dulled as the excitement passed. "Yeah? If they're new then they shouldn't be a problem."

Momoi sighed and her eyebrows finally lifted from their concerned state, her expression sheepish enough to communicate that she knew that. "That's true, but I still want to check them out. Touou doesn't need any surprises this year."

Sighing, Aomine leaned back and resumed the arduous task of decidedly not studying. "Fine, fine. Just let me know."

Hino, huh? At least it wasn't too far away.

 

* * *

 

 

It turned out that Momoi's intelligence expedition wasn't too far in the future. Later that week found Aomine strolling past the gates of Hino High School and certainly not missing his own basketball practice. For real. He wasn't always enthusiastic about it, but he now actually showed up for practice.

Aomine peered down as Momoi slowed slightly. She looked around the cluster of buildings they were approaching and Aomine sighed through his nose as he realized what she was doing.

"You have no idea where we're going, huh."

She didn't even look guilty, simply shrugging. "I couldn't find a map online. Their basketball club doesn't even have a page yet. I was hoping there would be a map here."

Before he could make a retort back--could finally get something back from all the times she'd called _him_ unprepared--a student from Hino jogged past their path, arms full of papers.

That by itself wouldn't've interrupted Aomine, but as soon as the student sped past them he came right back, retracing himself perfectly, walking backwards. There was a beat of silence before the student muttered a quick, "ohmygod," under his breath and walked up to them.

Momoi, able to push past the weirdness without skipping a beat, smiled at the student. "Hello, sorry, we're visiting from Touou. Could you direct us to your gymnasium, please?"

The student's eyes _shined_ and he seemed to bite back words before nodding and making an eager sound. "Yeah! I'm actually heading there so I can show you the way personally."

With a hop and a half-turn, the student nodded forward and started walking. He looked over his shoulder and varied his walking speed, as if he was caught between wanting to be an efficient guide and wanting to make conversation. Though the guy was helping them out, Aomine couldn't help but want to see him walk into a wall. Nothing against him personally, it'd just be funny. The guy had that type of presence, you know?

Not even stumbling, it looked like the student would continue walking without incident. His friendly smile kept twitching like it wanted to grow into something more. A certain degree of hospitality could be appreciated but this was a little...excessive.

"So what are you here for? Checking out the basketball club, right?"

Momoi blinked and shared a look with Aomine. He supposed it wasn't too surprising. Aomine wasn't exactly a nobody and if the guy leading them was even a moderate basketball fan it wouldn't be absurd for him to recognize Touou's ace.

Momoi nodded. "Ah, yes, we are."

Not waiting for or demanding any elaboration, the student chuckled and pushed open the gym doors.

"Good thing you ran into its captain, then. I'm Wakahisa Tsuyoshi, by the way."


	2. Hino's Best

Captain? Aomine thought Wakahisa seemed a little too…hopeful, to be captain. Then again, Momoi did say that Hino most likely started the club that year so maybe Wakahisa simply hadn’t had enough time to be brought down by the stress yet. It was only late spring, after all.

Aomine had little time to further scrutinize Hino’s captain, however, because there was suddenly a large, loud figure speeding towards them. He shifted in front of Momoi and saw the frozen smile of terror of Wakahisa’s face. It was the face of a guy who was going to get laid but then was told that the chick was a dom. That kind of face.

“CAPTAAIIN!!!”

Wakahisa was tackled to the ground by the figure—another student, and probably a member of the club if his exclamation was anything to go by.

Momoi gave Aomine an amused glance before joining in to watch the new student poke at Wakahisa’s cheeks while the blond-tinted raven groaned from under him and groped for his scattered papers. Momoi surreptitiously glanced over them and identified jersey designs and budgeting spreadsheets. Club affairs, then.

The larger student got off him and helped gather the papers, chuckling lightly. “You’re late. Maki’s almost convinced Mizushima to chicken fight with him.”

Aomine snorted softly as the student leaned his elbow on Wakahisa even though the floppy haired brunet was barely taller than him. Silver eyes finally acknowledged blue and pink and he leaned more on Wakahisa. “You even brought unexpected guests.”

Wakahisa grinned and didn’t seem bothered at all by the student draped over him. “Sorry, Yu-senpai, though I’m a little surprised it isn’t you provoking Mizushima-senpai.”

Yu just shrugged and made a non-committal sound, his smile not budging.

“Ah!” Wakahisa turned to Aomine and Momoi, his cheeks dusted pink and playing with one of the studs in his ear as he re-remembered that they were there. “Um, well, we’re not actually having, uh, shooty practice today, but you’re welcome to come in and meet everyone if you want.”

Since Wakahisa had unveiled himself as Hino’s captain Momoi had guessed that they weren’t going to be able to see a formal practice. Wakahisa was in his uniform and, judging by the papers her carried, it looked like they didn’t even have jerseys yet. When Yu came out in his uniform as well, that sealed the deal in her mind.

“Mm…well we’re—“ Aomine, figuring that there was no point in them being there if there wasn’t any practice, was stopped fast from ambling away by Momoi pinching his wrist. His noise of outrage was drowned out by her polite smile.

“We’d love to.”

Wakahisa nodded, looking star-struck again, and lead the way inside the gym, pulling Yu with him. Aomine scowled and nudged Momoi as she made to follow them. “Satsuki, what the hell?”

She smiled up at him, the politeness from before transformed into sarcasm. “We’re not done here, Dai-chan. You don’t need to see someone play to find out about them.”

Aomine groaned and followed her in. Damn nerd and her data.

* * *

 

“Hey guys! We have some special guests, um, with us, so…yeah,” Wakahisa called out to the three others in the gym.

A student with snakebite piercings looked up from his conversation with a short, blue-haired student, regarding Aomine and Momoi and raising an eyebrow. “Touou? Shouldn’t we be keeping club affairs a secret from our competitors?”

A snort came from the student stretched out on the bleachers. “Geez Mizushima, way to make our visitors feel unwelcome. Were you raised in a barn?”

Though the lounging student’s words were light and teasing, Mizushima looked affronted and he gave a quick bow to Momoi and Aomine, mumbling an embarrassed, “Welcome to our school.”

Yu bounded over to the student on the bleachers and sat down next to him, slouching slightly to rest his chin on the other’s shoulders. “Akane was totally a big help, right? She’s so smart.”

Wakahisa nodded genuinely as the student beside Yu snickered at his adoring tone. “Hosonuma-senpai taught me how to use the spreadsheets—she’s really good at that kind of thing.”

Everyone apart from Wakahisa made their way to the bleachers; Mizushima and the quiet student sitting above Yu and his chin-rest, and Aomine and Momoi sitting a bit above them to observe.

Mizushima huffed and gestured to the papers in Wakahisa’s hands. “Yes, Hosonuma-senpai is mathematically gifted—that has been established. Can we get on with the meeting now? You were already late, _Captain_.”

Aomine and Momoi shared another look as Wakahisa visibly dimmed. The student beside Yu seemed about to retort when Yu squeezed his shoulder firmly; a recommendation that whatever he was about to say wasn’t worth it this time. The quiet student finally spoke up, simply throwing out a blunt, “Bitter,” before falling silent again. Mizushima threw him a sharp look but didn’t pursue any retribution.

No team was perfectly cohesive, especially off the court. Aomine decidedly did _not_ want to get involved with Hino’s personal issues, but he knew the hidden glimmer in Momoi’s eyes meant she wouldn’t be forgetting this.

Clearing his throat awkwardly, Wakahisa’s grip on the papers tightened. “Sorry, you’re right, senpai. Let’s get started.”

* * *

 

They ended up staying at Hino for about an hour, listening to club logistics and team banter. The meeting probably would have ended sooner but the team was extraordinarily susceptible to going off on unrelated tangents.

And related tangents.

Aomine’d been clothes shopping with Momoi several times before and he was still surprised by how long Hino could discuss color combinations. Apparently this was their second round of doing so as well. It probably wouldn’t have gone on so long had it not been for the student beside Yu (Kobayashi Fumiya, they later found out) tossing out ridiculous combinations and spurring Wakahisa and Yu on further.

At least Momoi seemed pleased with the situation. Aomine had dozed off a few times but Momoi was pleasantly satisfied. On the way back to their respective homes, he had questioned her about it, knowing that that portion of his afternoon wasn’t completely wasted, but wanting to know how much she actually got out of it.

She side-eyed him and provided a sly smirk. “Now Dai-chan, you’re telling me that getting to know our future competitors isn’t a good use of time?”

Aomine rolled his eyes, unamused.

Momoi laughed lightly and faced forward. “They’re a lively bunch. Wakahisa-kun isn’t used to his role as captain, but that might change by the time the season starts.

“Kobayashi-san seems to be an instigator, and Wakahisa-kun and Yu-san go right along. I think they take it genuinely, though. Mizushima-kun and Maki-kun seem more to be the voices of reason, but I’m not totally sure. They didn’t exactly step in at any point to stop the others.”

She paused for a moment before looking up at Aomine with a small smile. “It’ll be fun to play with them, won’t it?”

He didn’t so much snort as breath the slightest bit more heavy than usual, but there was a similar smile on Aomine’s face.  “Yeah, we’ll see.”


	3. Chance Meeting

Kuroko hadn’t given much thought at all to the new team on the roster. He had been moderately curious at first—as had Aida been—but Momoi had updated them within the week. Hino’s egos didn’t seem to be a danger so Kuroko was unconcerned. He’d see their basketball eventually.

Staring blankly at the public court, Kuroko thought that maybe he should’ve been something even below unconcerned.

He, Kagami, Aomine, Sakurai, Momoi, and Kise had been heading to the courts to play some streetball—for various reasons; Kagami and Aomine needed the incentive of playing each other to actually start their summer homework, and they all agreed that distracting Kise from texting Kasamatsu every five minutes was a good idea—when they happened upon who Momoi identified to be the entire Hino basketball club already playing a match on a court. They were…well…

Aomine snorted derisively. “They’re crap.”

Kuroko couldn’t help but reluctantly agree, casually noting Sakurai’s strained noise as he probably wanted to apologize though they were too far away for Hino to hear at all. Kuroko believed that as long as you had passion you could play, but he had to concede that they weren’t great.

He heard Kise’s poorly concealed giggle as one player completely sidestepped the player he was supposed to be guarding and allowing a strangely arced pass through, where the recipient took a shot and…totally missed.

The shooter’s teammate broke down laughing while the guarder seemed to apologize profusely to their teammate. Kuroko locked eyes with the final member of Hino, the player who was apparently sitting out that round. His eyes’ impassiveness matched Kuroko’s own, though they seemed to confirm the awareness of the team’s faults and inquired if the upcoming group would intervene.

Kuroko inclined his head slightly and indicated the others. There was a good chance that they would.

The other nodded once and stood up, entering the mild chaos on the court. He tapped the player being apologized to and pointed over to where Kuroko and the rest were standing. Or…had been standing, as Kuroko watched Momoi start walking up to the Hino players, Aomine and Sakurai in two.

The player who had been informed of their approaching had seemed relatively nonplussed the whole time they had been watching, but as soon as he looked their way he became visibly flustered. A nervous smile stretched its way across his face and his eyes flicked rapidly between them as he walked up to Momoi.

“Momoi-san, Aomine-san, Sa—erm… Imagine seeing you all here.”

Behind him, the student who had missed the shot mock-swooned and muttered something to the tall player beside him, who covered his mouth as his shoulders shook mirthfully.

Paying no heed to them, Momoi smiled up at the player who had greeted them. “It’s nice to see you, Wakahisa-kun, everyone.”

Before she could say anything else, Aomine bluntly interjected. “You guys are terrible.”

Sakurai threw him a look somewhere between exasperated and horrified before bowing to the Hino captain. “Sorry! I’m so sorry—we mean no insult!”

Gently stopping Sakurai from apologizing further, Wakahisa spoke up. “Well, I wouldn’t say “terrible”, but I know we aren’t the best…”

Kobayashi called out when he trailed off. “Tsuyoshi, we suck. Like, majorly.”

Kuroko would’ve practically felt the incoming inspirational speech brewing between himself and Kagami had it not been for the easygoing tone Kobayashi spoke in paired with the dismissive shrug from Maki seconds later.

In something reminiscent of a shounen manga protagonist, Yu grinned and gave a thumbs up. “Which means we can only get better. We’ll practice like nothing else and you’ll be that much more surprised in-game!”

“That’s the best case scenario, in any case. It would be poetic, I think,” Mizushima amusedly spoke, providing some realism.

 

That was the moment Kuroko took interest in Hino.

 

Though nowhere near the driving passion that pushed him to save the rest of the Generation of Miracles from themselves the previous year, Kuroko didn’t think he would be forgetting about the Hino players anytime soon. To have such optimism about their—admittedly large—shortcomings, to at least appear like the upcoming season was no big deal; it was something new. Something he wanted to keep an eye on.

Seeing Kagami shake his head lightly with a smile, Kuroko figured his light was thinking similarly. “Hope it turns out that way, then. You better practice hard though; we won’t go easy on you just because you’re new.”

Wakahisa grinned and nodded eagerly, though there was a sharp tinge to his smile that hadn’t been there before. “Of course! You should take your own advice, too—how embarrassing would it be for the champions of the Winter Cup to lose to a bunch of amateurs?”

Kuroko’s eyes widened minimally. Amateurs? Sharing a look with Momoi he saw that she too caught the implications of that tidbit, though the significance was hidden under a scoff from Aomine.

“Don’t worry, we won’t have to find out what that feels like. Well, maybe Bakagami will.”

While before words like those would have made Kuroko cringe (on the inside, at least), seeing the teasing grin aimed at Kagami along with _life_ in Aomine’s eyes made the only thing cringe-worthy about the banter the corniness.

Kagami’s eyes narrowed with the intent to retort, but before he could Kise chimed in. “Nuh-uh, sorry, not sorry, Kaijou’s taking home the win this year. I still want to play you guys, but I wouldn’t be too sad if Hino took you out.”

Though the look on Sakurai’s face hinted that he was anything _but_ bothered by the lighthearted smack-talk, he still found it necessary to intervene before Kagami, Aomine, and Kise descended further into childish bickering. “I guess we’ll just have to see at Interhigh, right?”

Yu grinned and connected a few light punches into Kobayashi’s arm. “Right! Actions speak louder than words. We’ll settle this on the court!”

Without pause he turned to Kobayashi, slouching down to diminish their height difference, and spoke in an only negligibly quieter voice, while Sakurai seemed to be contemplating apologizing for being agreed with.

_“That was cool, right? I have to come up with new phrases for this—that was a good one, yeah?”_

Mizushima rolled his eyes as Kobayashi placed a hand on Yu’s back and smiled fondly; the expression softer and more genuine than anything Kuroko had seen from the player thus far. _“Yeah, Yu, it was cool. Though actions might not be louder than **your** words.”_

Yu snickered delightedly and Kuroko caught an amused glint in Maki’s eyes. Even if they didn’t work together wonderfully on the court, they at least had the chemistry to do so.

Aomine switched the arm he was holding their ball in. “We gonna talk all day or play?”

Wakahisa’s shoulders froze and any lingering mischief in his expression vanished. “A-ah, sorry. We won’t hold you up any longer. It was nice seeing you again.”

“Same to you.” Momoi gave them a parting smile as their group headed off to an empty court.

Kuroko gave a parting nod as he moved to follow. Maki returned the nod—the only one to do so—and his eyes spoke of an excitement for their next meeting.

Kuroko found that he shared the feeling. However their basketball evolved, he didn’t think Hino would be a bad addition to the league.


	4. The Makings of Something...Yeah, Something

Wakahisa Tsuyoshi had a dream. A dream he continually made harder on himself to achieve. It was a dream that had initially started as a simple wish.

“I want to play basketball.”

That wish had morphed as he had joined his middle school’s basketball club, as their team had never qualified for major matches, as he bleached his hair when someone told him he’d look like Kise Ryouta if he were blond (he didn’t, but liked the look anyway), as he tried to go to every Teikou match he could, as he got wind of the incredible 111-11 match, as he watched Seirin take on every club, even Rakuzan, and _won_.

That wish became a desire to play Seirin. To play Rakuzan and Touou. To play with all the teams he had spent his last year of middle school drooling over.

However, that was not a dream he could achieve by himself—well, he could, but it was incredibly unlikely he’d come across his idols on a court and have them agree to play a complete stranger, so he ruled that out. So he needed a team. And that’s where the whole “making it hard on himself” thing came in.

When Wakahisa had been accepted into Hino he had been ecstatic. It was a good school reasonably distanced from his home. A few of his senpai that he kept in touch with had gone there and had few a bad word to say about it.

But.

They had no basketball club. Hadn’t for years. That had given him pause, but after intense contemplation (which had consisted of a lot of groaning face-down on his bed), he came out with an unshakable drive.

He would form Hino’s basketball club.

 

* * *

 

 

The beginning had been easy. Kisaragi-sensei had been more than happy to sign off on the club forms even though she was already an advisor. She kept going on about how nice it was that he was taking the initiative to create a club, how _responsible_ he was—so responsible, he could practically run it himself!

Though confused, he had been happy to have that done so quickly. (Wakahisa later found out one of his senpai had given him a golden review to Kisaragi-sensei. That senpai soon found themselves a gifted game with a “thank you” note attached.)

The hard part came later, when he checked on the sign-up sheet after a week to find not a single name written. Bummed, but determined not to be deterred, Wakahisa decided to take matters into his own hands.

  

* * *

 

 

Wakahisa had heard of Yu-senpai before he made the connection with the wall of a third-year that, rumor had it, would be in the market for a new club affiliation that year.

Many of his classmates had shared stories of “Yu-senpai”, the upperclassman who greeted everyone with a warm smile and kind words. Who, apparently, insisted so hard on everyone calling him by his first name that everyone who Wakahisa asked had no clue what his last name was. The only negative things Wakahisa heard about Yu were from those more inclined to solely refer in insults, and even those were half-hearted jabs at his intelligence followed by a dissatisfied grimace. Apparently most people likened insulting Yu to kicking a puppy—only those committed to cruelty could find pleasure in it.

So while Wakahisa felt the nerves of approaching an upperclassman, Yu’s reputation lessened them enough to be overcome by a deep breath.

He tracked down the third-year one day after classes had ended, Yu waiting by himself outside the weight room. Wakahisa had prepared an entire speech to sway Yu from the wrestling club. While Yu wasn’t the pride and joy of the club (well, maybe the joy) he was still a valued member and if Wakahisa wanted to snipe him he’d better have an enticing argument.

“Senpai?”

Yu looked up from his phone and a friendly smile naturally spread across his face. “Hi there! Sorry, I don’t think we’ve met?”

Wakahisa shook his head. “Uh, no, we haven’t. I’m Wakahisa Tsuyoshi from class 1-B. I, um, was wondering if Yu-senpai would consider joining the basketball club? I know you’re alread—“

“Sure.”

Before Wakahisa could really get into his prepared statement Yu cut him off with his assent, adding in an aside, “I didn’t know we had a basketball club; cool.”

Wakahisa paused, looking as surprised as he felt. That was…far simpler than he had imagined. “Ooooo…kay then. The first meeting is next Friday in the auxiliary gym. Thanks, Senpai.”

Yu nodded with every word and marked the meeting in his phone. “Totally! I look forward to seeing you there, Wakahisa-kun.”

 

* * *

 

 

Wakahisa didn’t get a chance to go over his list of people to ask before being set on his next candidate. Yu sent him an e-mail later on the day they met detailing that he should talk to Kobayashi Fumiya—another third-year and a friend of Yu’s. According to Yu, Kobayashi was unhappy in his position in the hip-hop club—he was a competitive person but no one else in the club wanted to do anything more than preforming during school festivals. The prospect of regular public competition could convince him to join.

And he was 5’11”.

That was more planning than Wakahisa had put into any of his other options so he set out to find Kobayashi right away. Knowing very little of Kobayashi, Wakahisa steeled himself for the conversation and walked up to his senpai who was fixing his hair in a stairwell window.

“Kobayashi-senpai, hello! I was wondering if you would consider joining the basketball club this year?”

Though Kobayashi had to look up to meet Wakahisa’s eyes, the kouhai still felt like he was being measured up with that unamused gaze.

“Hino doesn’t have a basketball club. If you want to pull such an amateurish prank you should try a first-year.”

While Wakahisa could hold back a wince, he couldn’t stop the light, embarrassed flush gathering in his cheeks. “Uh, no, this isn’t a prank. I’ve been trying to form the club—there have been flyers up for it for the past week?”

Kobayashi blinked blankly before rolling his shoulders forward in a mild slump. “Oh. Yeah. I saw those.”

“Well, I’m in another club, anyway.”

No longer feeling so under attack after the small display of humanity, Wakahisa nodded knowingly. “Yes, but I was hoping to convince you to switch. We’ll have solo practices, and practices with other schools, a-and there are a lot of games in the season, um, and if we do well enough we can go to the championships—Interhigh and the Winter Cup. Yu-senpai said more competition would be interesting to you…ah…”

Kobayashi had been listening with a slowly growing interest, but when Wakahisa mentioned the other upperclassman his eyes lit up. “Wait, Yu joined?”

At Wakahisa’s nod he chuckled lightly. “Bastard knows me too well. Alright. I’ll join your club.”

Kobayashi then leaned in with a glint in his eyes, a motion that probably would have been more effective had he been able to loom over Wakahisa. “We better make it to those championships, though.”

With a sharp-edged smile Kobayashi quirked an eyebrow and backed up, turning on his heels after a few steps and walking up the stairs.

Recovering from the display, Wakahisa made a delayed sound of protest. He hadn’t told Kobayashi when the first meeting was or had gotten any contact information from him.

Well, he got the feeling he would be able to contact him through Yu.

 

* * *

 

 

Wakahisa was starting to feel as though he was destined to create the Hino basketball club. The second-year determinedly staring him down wasn’t exactly his idea of a glittering gift from the gods, but he wouldn’t complain. The more people who wanted to join the better, even if he could practically feel the temperature dropping from the cold, clinical gaze trained on him.

Mizushima Shigekyo had been on quite the inconvenient journey to find him. Mizushima had seen the posters the week before and had wanted to join the club. However, he had wanted a clean resignation from the fencing club before signing up. Anything but clean, that process had taken the entire week. By then Mizushima had given up any faith he had in impersonal, bureaucratic, paper-based communication and had taken up the search for Wakahisa himself.

Which was an undertaking on its own, if Mizushima’s demeanor said anything.

After a tense exchange (“So, um, why did you decided to join?” “My motivations are my own.” “A-ah…”) during which Mizushima promptly filled out every bit of paperwork Wakahisa had on him, the upperclassman shortly bowed and left him with a soft, “See you on Friday.”

Letting out a breath, Wakahisa relaxed into a relieved, boneless state, a matching smile on his face. He hoped Mizushima’s intimidation worked as well on the court.

 

* * *

 

 

The next few days served to make Wakahisa doubt his holy quest to make the Hino basketball club. He went down his list of candidates, spoke with every single one. And not a single person even said they would consider joining. Wakahisa kept up his hopes through the barrage of rejection, but he felt the pressure of the upcoming deadline.

It didn’t matter how passionate he was. It didn’t matter how easily he was given permission or that his senpai had given up their previous clubs. If he couldn’t get enough people to join by the end of the week, it wouldn’t be officiated. End of discussion.

Wakahisa was wracking his brain for more people to ask, stressing over that very possibility when he overheard an exasperated and seemingly one-sided conversation.

“Maki-kun, you can’t just opt out of extracurriculars.  Despite the name, they’re mandatory.”

In the silence that followed, Wakahisa poked his head out into the hall, curious. Shinohara-sensei was talking with a student—Maki, presumably. Wakahisa had seen him before, but only in passing. He was in class 1-C…and that was everything Wakahisa knew about Maki.

“Don’t blow this off, you need to pick a club to join.”

Rejuvenated by those magic words, Wakahisa scrambled over, nearly tripping over himself in his haste. This was a golden opportunity if there ever was one. Popping up beside them, Wakahisa interjected with a manic grin. “The basketball club is actually looking for members, if you’re interested.”

Wakahisa didn’t care that, okay, wow, Maki was really short. He didn’t care that he hadn’t seen any expression on Maki’s face let alone heard him speak a word. Anyone had potential, and while Wakahisa wouldn’t classify his interest in Maki based on desperation, he really did need one more person to join.

Maki’s eyes drifted from Wakahisa’s grin to the exasperated expectant look on Shinohara-sensei’s face and nodded. That was good enough. Punching the air in victory, Wakahisa gave Maki a thumbs-up soon after. “Yes! Thank you! I’ll see you in the aux gym on Friday!”

Leaving the scene back to class with a triumphant, “Woohoo!” Wakahisa couldn’t stop smiling for the rest of the day. He’d done it. He’d made Hino’s basketball club.

A club made of an optimistic first-year who’d never won a real game in middle school, an exuberant wrestler, a sly hip-hop dancer, a reserved fencer, and a taciturn tiny mystery.

 

They’d be fine.


End file.
